There are a few things I’ve been considering for my next level-ups. I tested some during the Mystery Event, and let me tell you a secret: I didn’t like them.

  Well, except for Fireball. I did enjoy blasting everything with it.

  But… Isn’t Fireball too lame? It’s, like, you know… Fireball is the FIRST AND MOST COMMON SPELL you see EVERYWHERE in fantasy. Be it books, novels, anime, movies, series, comics, board and card games, TTRPG… It doesn’t matter what you’re thinking about, I can almost guarantee you that, as long as it’s fantasy, it’ll have Fireballs in it, or at least something similar.

  So, taking Fireball for my Champion would sully my reputation as the most unexpected and devilish player, something I can’t accept!

  …No, shut up! Chain Lightning isn’t as common and famous as Fireball by any stretch, and I won’t accept anything you say against it!

  “Khm! Where was I…?”

  Ah, yeah. My level-up plans.

  After playing with the rest of my team, and even more during the Mystery Event, I’ve noticed there are a few things I’ve been lacking.

  And no, having to solve everything by deleting myself with Grand Finale isn’t one of them, nor is it the lack of single-target damage.

  I don’t need to be able to do everything. I have teammates and support units for this, and there’s no need to waste skills on things I’ll never do well. Sure, Chaotic Beam can help and I shouldn't remove it, because some single-target damage is required, but a single skill is enough for now.

  The two things I’m lacking are reliability and utility.

  Reliability because, even if my role is burst area damage, there are times when I can’t effectively deal with groups of enemies.

  There are several reasons for this, like only having Chain Lightning to do my job and that some enemies have resistance to it, but they are very rare occurrences. The real problem is when the enemies aren’t close to each other.

  Chain Lightning can jump to enemies that are within five meters of each other, and five meters is a lot… until it isn’t.

  “Obstacles and walls also block the jumps, which I didn’t know when I chose it.”

  The two things together mean that, when the enemies are spread out on a large area that’s filled with obstacles, I can’t use Chain Lightning effectively. Usually, it hits two or three monsters at most, even if there are dozens of them.

  To solve this I can either choose a new skill or upgrade Chain Lighting. It goes without saying that I’ll go for the latter.

  Doubling Chain Lightning’s jump distance will almost guarantee that I hit the maximum number of enemies possible. Shared Voltage still has the five-meter range, so it might not trigger like it usually does, but dealing Chain Lightning’s normal damage should be enough for most situations.

  “For the next level-up, I’ll have to take a look at some area skill that can fit the mad scientist vibe… It’s hard to keep saying ‘I’m an AoE expert’ when I just have one skill that hits multiple enemies.”

  Except for Grand Finale, but that one doesn’t count, for obvious reasons.

  “Oh, and it can’t be Fireball.”

  The other thing I’ve realized I’m lacking is utility.

  When I can’t do my job, when there’s a single boss monster or a few elite ones, my kit isn’t very useful. It’s okay since my teammates can cover my weakness, but I shouldn’t stand still doing nothing. I should have one or two skills I can use regardless of the situation, to help my team when my build doesn’t fit.

  And the skill I’ve come up with is none other than Maddening Cacophony.

  Maddening Cacophony is extremely MP intensive for affecting a single unit and dealing no damage, but the Frenzy status effect is stupidly overpowered depending on the situation. With a single cast of this skill, it’s possible to turn any fight around or stop a dangerous enemy from using skills for a while.

  Isn’t Maddening Cacophony perfect? What can be better for a mad scientist to annoy your enemies so much, that they turn crazy and start attacking their allies? Fufufu! Hahaha!

  “Aah, I’m so looking forward to the day I can use this skill…”

  This is what my stats look like after the upgrade. This is without the Champion’s buff that doubles all my stats, of course.

  “Now, should I upgrade the other Hunters? I feel bad for the other two because The Sun is now three levels higher. Or I could also…”

  Sigh! There’s so much to do and so little time to spend! Aaah, how much I wished my ‘failed clones’ were a success… I could dump all the work on them and spend all my energy enjoying my well-earned success!

  “La la la…!” I sing an unintelligible song, attentively observing the video. “Yeah, yeah! Go! Die, hahaha! La la la…!”

  What am I doing right now? I’m wasting my ti– uh, I mean, I’m doing research. Yeah, research. I’m doing research and I’m making full use of my time, not wasting even a single second relishing what I’m watching. I’m a very productive adult after all.

  In the video, a player is pushed back by a small flying minotaur. He waves his arms around, trying to grab onto anything to save himself, to no avail, before falling onto the raging water current.

  “Pony, noooo! Don’t die!” His companion shouts, watching the player being dragged away.

  The player, struggling to stay afloat, says, “D-don’t, ah, worry… about me. Go, finish… uh, the dungeon… Jonny!”

  ‘Jonny’, losing sight of his compassion, turns around and clicks his tongue. “Tsk! Why does he always fall into the water? Does he do it on purpose…? I thought he was lucky, and this is why I play with him, but…”

  I chuckle to myself, watching the two player’s opposite reactions. “Haha. Is this yet another couple, broken by my dungeon? If it is… Nice! Hahaha!”

  But this won’t do. As much as I enjoy wasting my ti– I mean, as much as I enjoy doing research, this kind of awful teams won’t provide me the insight I’m looking for, so I turn off the spectator mode and browse the list of all the current dungeon invasions happening in The Mad Rat’s Lab.

  I keep changing from one dungeon invasion to the next, looking for teams currently fighting my first Boss monster: the Minitaur Queen.

  I know I should finish The Hunters first, but… I don’t feel like doing it. Not now.

  The reason I’m doing this is simple. The Minitaur Queen is not only my first Boss, which I haven’t touched since I created it, but it's also quite weak when compared to my latest creations. That’s why I’m currently enjoyi– I mean, investigating, how the players deal with my monster.

  But not any fight will do. I’m looking for those players who can effectively deal with my Boss, either by defeating it or by finding a way to counter its behavior and render my Boss useless.

  “La la la… Maybe this one will do…?” I say, having found a group inside the boss’ room.

  “Oh, Great Mad Rat! Please bless us…”

  A shiver runs down my spine and a sudden headache threatens to make my head burst. I quickly turn off the screen that I just opened.

  “I didn’t see or hear anything,” I delude myself, shaking my head. “But maybe this one…”

  The next Dungeon Invasion I open is one where the players have reached the Minitaur Queen’s room. They’re waiting near the central capsule, where my monster goes to rest from time to time, after patrolling the room, or when it needs to recover after a battle. They’re ready to engage my Boss in a fight as soon as it comes back.

  “This one looks promising…”

  I wait for the Minitaur Queen to appear while watching them, and when the battle starts, I pay extra attention to their moves, tactics, and general strategy.

  The invaders were prepared for this fight, as they surprise my monster with the first strike, and chase it relentlessly when it tries to get away. It’s only thanks to the Trickster skill that the flying minotaur manages to slip through their tight net and survive. But the players, seeing this, don’t despair and instead wait for the Boss to come back. They know that, sooner or later, they’ll strike my Boss down.

  What I learn from their fight is more or less what I already knew from the battles I saw before.

  “Alright… It’s time for some upgrades.”

  I stop wasting ti– I mean, learning, and open the Templates menu. I select the Minitaur Queen and a new screen, showing my Boss’ status screen, appears in front of me.

  “Now that I take a look at the stats… The Minitaur Queen isn’t as weak as I thought?” I tilt my head, confused. “Well, I did use two strong units to create it, and the stats are indeed lower than The Sun’s… but that’s just because it’s level 3…”

  I didn’t remember, but it’s true. The Minitaur Queen’s base stats are higher than my Hunters, even when you take into account the fact that I used three units instead of two to create them.

  And the Minitaur Quenn also receives the Boss’ buff that doubles stats, because it’s a Boss…

  “I guess it’s quite strong…? Regardless, I’m going to level it to level 10, so…”

  I make what it’s, hopefully, a wicked smile. It’s hard to say when I have a rat’s head. After I give my monster a whopping seven levels, it will receive a further 70% boost to all stats.

  “Hahaha… Someone’s going to suffer, but it isn’t going to be me this time…! Fufufu! Hahaha!”

  In case you don’t remember, the Minitaur Queen is a hit-and-run monster. It uses the Minotaur’s Fierce Charge to initiate the fights with a brutal push plus stun, and the Fairy Queen’s Trickster to safely get away. Furthermore, it attacks mages and archers in melee range, while keeping the distance against melee fighters, tormenting them with spells; until it’s time to run away, heal, and come back for more.

  Taking this into account, the first skills I select are perfect to complement its style. Skills that are perfect for guerrilla warfare.

  First Strike and Fully Rested are a perfect fit for short engagements, helping with offense and defense respectively.

  First Strike is a bit hard to use, but it’s very useful at the start of a fight, doubly so if you’re the one initiating the engagement. Ideally, the Minitaur Queen will start every fight at full health, thanks to Survival Instinct and Fast Recovery, so the damage reduction for the first attacks is nice.

  By the way, Fully Rested does stack with other damage reduction skills like the dwarfs’ Stoneskin. If you have both on the same unit, they’ll receive a 35% reduction as long as they’re above 80% health.

  “A unit with the dwarf’s passive, the angel’s passive, Heavy Armor, and Fully Rested would receive a whopping 75% less damage from physical attacks or 45% from all magic…”

  I’ll have to test it someday… Maybe I can achieve an invulnerable unit somehow… Hehe, huhu…

  No! I should stop thinking about weird stuff and focus on the matter at hand!

  “Khm…! Let’s continue.”

  The next skill I select will make maximum use of the multiple and prolonged engagements. It’s called Exhausting Aura, a skill that’s perfect for draining the enemies out of their essential EP and MP when you aren’t from the Abyss faction.

  As you might expect, making your enemies spend more EP and MP is completely broken. This is why, like some other auras like the Weakening Aura, this skill’s effect is so weak and can’t stack…

  …and also why the skill can only be given to Champions and Bosses.

  Can you imagine? A dungeon where every mob has this skill, and the effect stacks? It’d be terrible!

  I’m glad the DMA staff didn’t allow it…

  But still, the extra cost, even if it’s 5%, quickly builds up; and since STA and SOU, required to recover EP and MP respectively, are incredibly slow to recover, every single EP or MP point is extremely valuable.

  With Exhausting Aura, the Minitaur Queen won’t be an immediate danger to the invader’s life exclusively, but a danger that can haunt them during the rest of the Dungeon Invasion even if they take it down.

  “Good, good. I like it…”

  I smile, imagining all the damage the Minitaur Queen will cause to the invaders, regardless of the result of their fights.

  Now that I’ve chosen the first three skills, I have four more skill points to spend, for a total of twelve skills. Why so many skills, when I can only level my units up to level 10? Don’t forget that Bosses get three skill points at level one like Champions do.

  “Alright, I’ve decided! The next skill will be…”